What
language did Jesus speak? Beginning in the middle of the nineteenth century a
mistaken notion – Jesus only knew and spoke Aramaic -- took hold that has
by-and-large continued to dominate both scholarly and popular opinion. Yet, the
results of a century of archaeological evidence have challenged this assumption
and brought a sea change of understanding regarding the linguistic environment
of first-century Judaea. The inscriptional and literary evidence reflects a
reality not unlike what we find with the Dead Sea Scrolls. Of the 700
non-biblical texts from the Qumran library, 120 are in Aramaic and 28 in Greek,
while 550 scrolls were written in Hebrew. Read the complete article at -- http://mosaicmagazine.com/picks/2014/05/judean-lingo/
One of Jesus’s earliest memories was no doubt watching and listening to his family when they gathered to pray the Shema at sunrise before the day’s work began and after the working work day was over at sunset . He also heard and participated in praying the Shema at their synagogue. He was surrounded by neighbors who also prayed the same prayer in their homes every day. The Hebrew word for prayer is tefilah . It is derived from the root Pe-Lamed-Lamed and the word l'hitpalel, meaning “ to judge oneself .” This surprising word origin provides insight into the purpose of Jewish prayer. The most important part of any Jewish prayer, whether it be a prayer of petition, of thanksgiving, of praise of God, or of confession, is the introspection it provides, the moment that we spend looking inside ourselves, seeing our role in the universe and our relationship to God. [1] Most of Jewish prayers are expressed in the first person plural, "us" instead of "me," an...
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